HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL: Rallies help Cats go far

Central continues to find late-inning magic this season

Standard-Times File Photo Central High School baseball players celebrate a win against Abilene Cooper earlier this year. The Bobcats have staged several late-game comebacks this season, capped by last week’s dramatic rally against El Paso El Dorado in their playoff opener.$RETURN$$RETURN$

Of note: The winner of the series advances to play Midland High (27-6) or Richland (24-10) in the regional quarterfinals.

It was the type of call that has killed many a rally.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh inning of Game 1 of the Class 5A bi-district playoff series, the Central Bobcats were trailing El Paso El Dorado 8-4 when sophomore Matt Sawyer stepped to the plate.

He sent a bouncing grounder over the third base bag and into the foul corner in left field.

It was going to clear the bases and he was going to be in scoring position as the tying run.

Before he could even make it to first, the third base umpire signaled foul, and all four Bobcats on the infield had to retreat to their spots.

"Whether or not it was fair or foul, I don't know," Sawyer said. "The ump called it foul, so it was foul in my mind, too. I knew I saw the pitcher's best pitch on the ball I hit foul down the line. He threw it again."

El Dorado pitcher Sergio Reyes' second delivery ended up a carbon copy on both ends, because once again, Sawyer connected on a shot down the third-base line.

This one would be called fair and score two Bobcats, pulling Central within 8-6.

"I got the good part of the bat on it and hit it down the left field line again," Sawyer said. "When you hit a hard foul ball, it is almost like you are in the pitcher's head. The pitcher starts stressing and as a hitter you know you are in the zone.

"I just wanted to find the outfield grass and put pressure on the defense."

Then catcher Chris Baker grounded to third on what looked to be the final out of the game, only to see the Aztecs' third baseman miss the throw to first, allowing Central to tie the game.

As has been a trademark of the 2013 Bobcats, when the odds were stacked against them, Central came through in the clutch.

"I have faith in every single one of our players to get a hit at any moment in the game," Sawyer said. "Our coaches feel the same way. You could argue that we need to bunt sometimes, but (head coach Patrick) Penry believes we are going to get the hits, too. It is all a mindset in baseball.

"It is a mental game and we have the mental edge right now."

Two weeks ago, fighting for their seeding in District 2-5A against Lubbock Coronado, the Bobcats came through with a three-run rally in the bottom of the seventh to force extras against the Mustangs.

Again down to their last out, third baseman Nick Barron laced a two-run double to come through in the clutch.

"That was just us fighting back and doing what we are coached to do — compete, fight and not give up until the very last out," Barron said. "With two outs and two strikes on our last hitter of the game, we end up going out and tying the game up."

Penry recalled a game this season when the Bobcats trailed big and he started to get after his team for their lack of hustle.

"I don't like coaching like that," Penry said. "I asked one of the guys ‘Hey, am I too tense for you guys right now?' and he said ‘Maybe a little bit.' Then Mickey (Scott) and Nick said ‘Coach, relax we got this.' We were down six runs, and sure enough they come back and won.

"I'll never forget ‘Coach, we got this.'"

It has become a theme for the Bobcats in a 2013 campaign that saw Central (27-9) establish a new school win mark with two weeks left in the regular season.

During its tournament schedule, Central rallied from a 9-0 deficit to beat Magnolia 12-9 with all of the Bobcats' offense coming after the fourth inning.

A week later, the Bobcats yielded nine runs to host Round Rock Westwood in the top of the first before plating eight runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame on their way to a wild 21-17 victory.

"We talk about not letting the score matter and affect your approach at the plate," Penry said. "That is what we are focused on, the approach. It doesn't matter if you are down by five or up by five. Go out there, find a way on base and get the next guy up to the plate."

Scott, a junior who is in his third season on varsity and is also the starting quarterback on Central's football team, said some of the never-say-die mentality transfers over from football, where the Bobcats rallied numerous times to win in the fourth quarter last fall.

Scott hit the go-ahead home run in Game 1 of the El Dorado series to lead off the eighth and said the fact the team never quits is the difference in this year's Bobcats.

"That is the difference between this team and last year's team — we aren't going to give up," Scott said. "The Coronado game, we came back from being down three runs with two outs. Friday, we came back from four down to win Game 1. You have to win Game 1 to make sure we didn't have to go to Game 3 on Saturday. That was huge to get momentum, because at the start of Game 2 you could just tell they were down."

"They had all the momentum and we took it all away, took it into Game 2 and swept the series."